Critics, allies react to wage bill failure

The demise of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed voters in New Mexico to decide an increase in the minimum wage concluded a battle from opposing factions.

State Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, said increasing the minimum wage might sound like a good idea.

"However, there are many factors that come into play," Espinoza said. "Raising the minimum wage will undoubtedly hinder economic development, it will kill jobs, and it will raise prices at the grocery store."

She said "mom and pop" businesses would be the hardest hit.

"We will also likely see the fallout manifest in layoffs," Espinoza cautioned. "Small businesses are already fighting to keep money in their operations and are having a difficult time growing and expanding under our taxes and regulations here in New Mexico."

Espinoza said the proposal would not create an environment of fairness and would not solve the state's economic problems.

But Gerry Bradley, with New Mexico Voices for Children, an advocacy group for kids, said going from $7.50 to $8.50 an hour would put $105 million in new wages into the hands of low-wage workers who would spend the vast majority of it in the state.

"Raising and indexing the minimum wage would do a couple of things," Bradley said. "First, it would help alleviate our high rate of poverty. Second, it would give the state a much needed economic boost. Since 70 percent of our economy is based on consumer spending, one of the fastest ways to invigorate it is to put more money in the hands of the people most likely to spend it - those who are earning the lowest wages.

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Bradley, the research director for NM Voices, authored a report that was released last week on the state's minimum wage.

Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Becky Brooks said she would not want to guess what a $1 increase in the minimum wage might mean for the Ruidoso area.

"It's going to do the very same thing here as it would anywhere else," Brooks said. "I don't think it would be advantageous but there there's probably people out there making minimum wage that do."

Brooks said she has not heard from the local business community because most probably thought the proposal would never fly.

Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, said a $1 raise in the minimum wage would not only help working families, it would boost local businesses around New Mexico. Claiming 111,000 members in New Mexico, the organization had urged state lawmakers to pass the measure.